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Germany’s third division has postponed the next two matchdays due to the coronavirus outbreak, the 3. Liga said on Wednesday. Matchdays 28 and 29, scheduled for the coming weekend and next Tuesday and Wednesday, will be moved to the beginning of May at the earliest.
Bayern Munich II, currently seventh in the 3. Liga table, was set to play Ingolstadt on Saturday and Preussen Münster next Tuesday.
DFB General Secretary Friedrich Curtius acknowledged this was an “exceptional situation”:
We are in an exceptional situation. New developments are arising almost every hour. One thing is clear: health takes precedence over all else. It is also clear that we want to live up to our responsibility to the clubs.
In its statement, the DFB said that the clubs had decided to postpone the matches rather than play them behind closed doors, which is the case in the Bundesliga. Unlike Bayern’s reserve team, many clubs depend on the revenue garnered in the stadium from ticket sales.
“Income from match operations is vital for the clubs and accounts for more than 21 percent of total annual income,” the statement said.
It’s unclear how the postponed matchdays would affect the promotion/relegation playoff between Germany’s second and third divisions.